Wall Street bonuses fell 9% to an average of $146,200 in 2015, driven down by a “challenging year in the financial markets” and new regulations, according to New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The decline in the banking bonuses was the result, in large part, of a 10.5% decline in profits on Wall Street to $14.3bn in 2015, according to the report from the watchdog.

The figures reflect a steady decline in bonuses since the financial crisis in 2008 and the implementation of new controls on how bonuses are awarded. “This was the third consecutive year of lower profits,’’ DiNapoli said of the financial industry, a major driver of New York’s economy.

According to the DiNapoli, Wall Street’s total bonus pool for 2015 came to $25bn, down 6% from 2014 and 27% lower than the peak in 2006, when the average bonus hit $191,360.

The falls reflect the added number of employees banks have taken on related to compliance requirements and signal the costs of higher capital requirements and boosting returns to shareholders.

“Because of the markets being down, we have to assume that some of those options being exercised now are of less value than they were a year or two ago,” DiNapoli said.

Last year, five of the six major Wall Street banks saw their stock prices sink – with Morgan Stanley falling the furthest, down 18%. Many banks are implementing deeper than usual culls on underperforming workers, and moving backroom jobs from metropolitan areas such as New York and New Jersey to regional cities such as Salt Lake City and Dallas, or offshore altogether.

The fall is bad news for New York. Some 17.5% of state revenue, or $12.5bn, comes from the financial industry, mostly through income taxes.

The real estate and luxury goods markets, which typically enjoy an uptick in business at bonus time, will also be nervously watching to see how the fall will impact their businesses. DiNapoli said he did not hold out much hope of improvement this year, given “ongoing weaknesses in the global economy and market volatility”.